The Death of a Salesman
What is the American Dream? Well, if you are an American and if you have a family, a house and a car, a decent job with a good salary, and if you consider yourself to be surrounded by people who respect you for who you are, you can be said to have reached the American Dream. Within the play Death of a salesman, Willy Loman destroyed himself and his family trying to achieve a fictitious dream not capable of being reached.Willy Loman spends most of the play trying to achieve wealth, fame, and the like of others. These ideas summarize the American Dream, to become a successful, well-liked businessman. Willy's true dream, however, was very different from this. He dreamed to be a farmer in the West (pg. 72 - "You wait, kid, before its all over we're gonna get a little place out in the
By the time Willy got to be an old man, his life was in shambles. Through his death, Willy thinks he can achieve success and fulfill his dream. He never made it to the top as he planned or ever got his son to trust him. Throughout the play you can see evidence that Willy feels trapped by this dream that he feels obligated to fulfill. Society has dictated to Willy that the American Dream is "the" dream, and no other dream is acceptable. What Willy should have done was follow his heart and not his needs, and his life may not have ended as sadly as it did. One son, Biff, was a hopeless dreamer who wasn't able to hold on to a job. Charlie has worked hard and persevered in the business world, successful enough to give money to Willy just to help him pay his bills. Willy's sad ending left him to remain a salesman. Happy, the other son, had a job, but was basically all talk, just like Willy. At the end of the play, his only hope is to leave something for his family, especially for Biff who was going to start a sports business, by taking his own life and leaving his family the insurance money. His death was basically based on the ways of the world and his wrongdoing. On the up side Biff realized that was his father was holding onto was a fake dream (pg. In contrast, we see his friend Charlie, who is living the real American Dream.
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